10 Useful Products for Growing, Preserving and Cooking With Herbs

No yard? No problem. The AeroGarden Harvest is designed for growing herbs indoors. You don't even need sunlight. This little hydroponic wonder is kind of like a Keurig but for plants. All you need is water, fertilizer, plant pods (that seriously look like K-cups) and time. And just like a Keurig, it tells you what to put in and when, so there's no worry about over- or under-watering. It's the perfect garden for a novice, but pros will love it, too. Even our own expert gardener, Kelly Smith-Trimble, owns one, and she loves it.

While it's tempting to throw all of your produce in the veggie drawer, that can cut the shelf-life of your food in half. Some refrigerated items, such as asparagus, actually need to stand up in a cup of water like a bouquet of flowers. This method keeps the stems crisper longer, and many herbs need this vertical treatment, too. Keeping herbs watered and upright can help them stay fresh for up to two weeks! This herb preserver is the perfect size for storing multiple herbs together and can fit in most refrigerator door shelves along with your condiments.

One of our favorite ways to save herbs is freezing them with butter or olive oil to use in skillet cooking later. You can use an ice cube tray from the dollar store to create little herbed starter blocks, but if you don’t have a lot of freezer space, the Chef'n SpiceCube Herb Freezer Tray is a lot better for storage. It features four different compartments plus a lid to keep different herbs separated. And the tray is stackable so you can buy multiple trays to store large batches of herbs easily.

Chopping teeny, tiny sprigs is maddening. Cut cooking prep time with a pair of herb scissors. These nifty shears feature five blades to instantly slice through herbs and greens for cooking and garnishing. And at less than $20, they’re easily worth the investment.

While herb scissors offer a speedy way to slice herbs, they may not be the best product if you have arthritis. The Chef’n HerbZoom, however, is exactly what you need. This little tool rolls around like a computer mouse or a pizza cutter, quickly mincing herbs for cooking. It’s also touted as one of the safest ways to chop herbs and might be a good way to introduce older kids and tweens into cooking prep — with careful monitoring, of course.

The Microplane Herb Mill does it all. It strips herbs, stores herbs and then — just like pepper grinders — grinds herbs for a super-fresh garnish. It’s especially handy for big batch Italian meals with fresh parsley.

If you love using a lettuce stripper for kale, meet its tiny cousin the herb stripper. This tool by Chef’n features the same idea just on a smaller scale to easily drag, remove and catch herbs like rosemary from the stem.

You don’t need mega gardening shears for an herb garden — especially if your garden is tiny and indoors. These mini shears will do just the trick. Plus, they look incredibly chic.

While you could use ice pop sticks as plant markers, we're swooning over these golden beauties. The brass markers from designer Ariana Ost are handmade from actual herbs by casting them in brass. If gardening is big in your family, these would make a lovely heirloom.

If you’re a seasoned gardener and you’ve got the space for a larger herb haul, there’s a lot more you can do with herbs beyond cooking. This drying rack is as pretty as it is functional. There’s plenty of space for drying herbs upside down, plus the design creates a rustic-chic chandelier.